by Lena Little
“I do what it takes to make sure you’re safe. Little girl your needs always come before mine, remember?”
She exhales hard. “What I don’t remember is us ever discussing how this can work when…one, my dad hates your guts now…two, I’m away at college for the next four years…and three—“
“None of that matters. That’s number three,” I say moving in quickly and claiming her lips before she has time to present more of an argument.
At first, she doesn’t kiss me back, but before long she can’t resist and we’re both face-fucking right there on the sidewalk, the sound of her books hitting the cement barely audible over our moans.
I pull my face back, both my hands cupping hers.
“Come to Italy with me,” I command.
“Are you crazy? No. I’m in college.”
“I already checked and they have a study abroad program, not to mention that it’s 2020 and, hello! Almost every college in the world offers study from home these days.”
“You want me to move to Italy with you and take all my classes online?”
“Exactly,” I say, getting more excited as I see her just almost pondering the idea as she tosses it around in her mind. “You don’t need to be on campus and the time difference can work in your favor.”
“How? I’ll always be a day behind unless I stay up late.”
“Oh, we’ll be staying up late every night, piccolina. You can count on that.”
She slaps me on the shoulder.
“Aren’t you in trouble in Italy? Aren’t there bad people who want to harm you there?”
“Not anymore, not to mention I’ve got a second passport and I can get one for you too.”
“Oh great. So now you want me to carry a false ID, turn me into a felon overnight, in a foreign country where I don’t speak the language and don’t know a soul.”
“You know me and you know some words already. I know you’re fascinated with the culture and you know I’m fascinated with you. Come on, give it a try…just for a semester and if you don’t like it then we’ll move back.”
“We’ll, huh?”
“I’m not letting you go, bambina.”
She says nothing for a second. “What about my dad?”
“What about him?”
“Come on, Giovanni. Don’t be like that.”
“He’ll get over it in time. Time is all he needs, not to mention you’re an adult now and you can make your own decisions. Plus in Europe, nobody bats an eye at big age differences in relationships. It’s not like here where everyone is trying to tell everyone else how to live their lives. Over there everyone’s doing their own thing and doesn’t have time to worry about other people.”
“You’re really selling it, you know that?”
“I know one thing and one thing only. I love you,” I say, dropping to a knee.
Gabriella doesn’t flinch, figuring I’m going to pick up her books, but little does she know I need her hands free right now, because I’ve got something very special for one of her fingers in particular.
Pulling a small black, velvet box from my pocket I pop open the lid as I’ve already practiced hundreds of times, displaying the princess cut five-carat diamond. “Little Girl, you’re the only one for this Daddy. And I want nothing more than a bunch of little girls and little boys with you, a house full of laughter, love, and family. And that all starts and ends with you.” I pause, watching the tears well up in her eyes. “It doesn’t matter where we are or where we find ourselves because home isn’t a place where I hang my hat at night. Home is where you are and you are in my heart, my head, and my soul. Be mine, beautiful. Will you marry me?”
A moment passes as she brings her hands to her face, wiping away her tears. I want her to accept immediately so I can slide this ring on and kiss away those tears forever. “This is crazy.”
“Just like us.”
She nods. “Yeah, just like us.” Another beat passes. “Yes!” she cries out. “I’m yours, always have been and always will be.”
I slide the ring on her finger, a perfect fit, and then slide up off my knee and raise her high above my head in one motion.
“She said ‘yes’” I yell at the top of my lungs.
There are cheers from some students passing by as I spin her around and then lower her back down, her lips in line with mine, and I kiss her with everything I’ve got. Because that’s exactly what she gets when it comes to her Daddy. Everything, now and forevermore.
“I love you, principessa,” I say.
“I love you, papà.”
Epilogue
Gabriella
One month later
“Ready for lunch?” Giovanni asks as he comes out of the waters just off the coast of Sardinia, where we now call home. The man is hunk to the extreme, looking like Daniel Craig’s famous beach scene in Casino Royale.
“I’m ready,” I say, my pulse quickening up as I’m beyond nervous.
Gio towels off as I put out the plates and silverware for our lunch here at the beach.
My eyes lock on Gio as he casually sits down on our beach blanket and reaches for his silverware. “I need a spoon to eat my pasta. What’s this kazoo?”
I almost spit up my wine, laughing when I was just so tense I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath.
“It’s not a kazoo, goofy.”
“What is it then?” He pauses. “Wait a minute here,” he says, turning it over and I watch the gears in his mind spin in real-time as he realizes just exactly what it is. “It has a plus.”
I nod, a smile overtaking my face.
“You mean?”
I nod again.
Giovanni practically tackles me as he covers my face in kisses. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I have to be more careful now that…” he rubs his hand over my belly. “I knew it. I just knew we made a baby that first time.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
“I do, because I know we’re perfect for each other, and that’s how it works.”
I shoot him a questioning eyebrow.
“You trust Daddy, right?”
“Never doubt Daddy,” I say, repeating his mantra.
He gives me a big hug and just holds me. “Timing really is everything, and like I said our timing is perfect.”
“It sure is.”
“One second.” He eases off of me, pulling his phone from the picnic basket and hitting one button. “È tempo,” he says.
“Time for what?” I ask, having picked up more and more Italian words thanks to living with him.
Not a minute later a cigarette boat comes speeding down the coast before turning toward us. I see two people waving their arms at us like they know us, but we don’t really know anyone here other than the cashiers at the grocery store and some waiters and waitresses. We’ve spent our entire first month here just enjoying each other and only each other.
As the boat gets closer I make out a face that I know can’t be who I think it is. “Either the wine or the sun is catching up with me,” I say, shaking my head.
“No, she caught up with you.”
I stand, Giovanni taking my hand as I practically feel dizzy all of a sudden. “Is this really happening? I mean, what the…”
“Gaby!” my mom yells, jumping off the boat and running through the shallow water to me.
“Hey, Gio,” dad says, as Giovanni helps him with the anchor.
“But mom, you…” I say, not returning her huge hug.
“Honey, are you kidding me? I’d never leave you and your father. It was all a ruse.”
“A ruse?”
Gio shakes hands with my dad and puts his hand on his back as they walk toward me.
“Ready for round two?” Gio says with a big smile.
“Let me sit down first.”
“Your dad was the one who actually uncovered the accounting irregularities months ago. The first thing he did was call me and we came up with a plan. Then we called law enforcement, knowing the long game here was witnes
s protection and it only takes one slip up, one piece of misfiled paperwork, and our whereabouts are revealed.”
“I don’t get it.”
“We got your mom out first. She left with a friend of mine on a boat in Monaco, which made the whole midlife crisis I’m going to run away thing look more legitimate. You were going to college so she didn’t need to be in her unhappy marriage anymore. She’d done her job as a mom and now she wanted to go off and live like she was on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Notice how it all happened so abruptly and you never saw her with the guy or actually kissing him. He was just a decoy.”
“Mom, you?”
She nods.
“We wanted to get you out too, but if we withdrew you from college before it even started it would be a huge tip-off. The Italians seemed to already know your dad might have caught on as he asked one two many questions when he did his annual audit recently. We had to make everything else look normal.”
“But what about everything that went down at the house?” I ponder out loud.
“The house was bugged. No questions about it. It was just a matter of how many people had bugged it, hence all the double-crossing.”
“Double-crossing.”
My father shrugs his shoulders. “I’ll admit I wasn’t thrilled when I heard Giovanni had taken an interest in you. I was pissed actually, but his plan to have me catch the two of you in the house actually made a lot of sense. It allowed the two of you to go your separate ways for a week, providing a further distraction to anyone who might be watching us and provided audio to whoever was bugging the house. It looked like we were all falling apart just as quickly as Marroni’s operation.”
“Who all was bugging the house?”
Gio perks up. “I’d guess Marroni’s people, probably for years, and then the Feds and even the Italian police involved in the case.”
“Why did you come to the States then?”
“I was there to get you out. I just didn’t know that I was going to fall in love with you first.”
I pause, looking at everyone. “Is this all a joke? I feel like I’m in that Michael Douglas movie The Game.”
“Not a joke,” Gio quickly states matter of factly. “We couldn’t tell you because we didn’t know what was bugged and what wasn’t. And if we told you you’d act differently which could tip off who knows who.”
“But what about the strip club?”
“Are you kidding me?” dad asks. “I still owe you a serious spanking for that one.” Gio’s eye perk up and I suppress a smile. “Gio and I were both beyond surprised you did that as that was not part of the plan at all, but somewhat strangely it kind of worked out to our advantage.”
“But didn’t you take Gio to meet Marroni?”
“Yeah, I needed a real Italian to give him the once over to make sense of some of those chains and medallions, and who better than an Italian mafia man.”
“Former,” Gio quickly corrects. “My life is much, much different now. Perfect actually,” he says, pulling me in for a hug and placing his hand on my stomach. “We’ve got news by the way.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less after not speaking with you for a month. You can always expect the unexpected when it comes to Giovanni Gallo,” dad quips.
“We’re expecting,” Gio says, rubbing my stomach.
“You’re what?” mom asks as dad starts to teeter and passes out, but not before Gio grabs him and slaps his face a few times, bringing him right back into the moment.
Gio pulls dad into the shade and mom starts hugging me wildly.
“I can’t believe I didn’t sniff this out.” I’m beyond perplexed.
“And I can’t believe I didn’t smell that delicious gnocchi from down the beach. Let’s eat!” mom suggests, never one to miss out on Italian food.
“We’ve got tiramisù in the cooler for later, Kim,” Gio says to my mom as he fans my dad.
“I’m going to start with some of this Italian wine and then some cold-pressed olive oil over this bruschetta,” I say.
“Can you make me one too?” Gio asks me.
I plop down on the blanket, watching my mom and dad and Gio act like everything is completely normal, and my fiancé seems to pick right up on it.
“Sorry for the way we’re acting. It’s just that we all planned out every detail a couple of months ago and it worked out so it’s actually not the big reveal to us that it is to you.” He pauses. “Did we do good?”
I shake my head. If it was anyone else I’d be kicking and screaming, but Gio…? It just shows how much he really is my Daddy, taking care of everything without bothering me one bit, without causing me to worry.
“Congratulations, honey,” dad says a moment later when he’s back to himself. “As I mentioned I was not at all excited about the two of you at first, but once I thought about it it makes complete sense. Who else in this world do I trust with my little girl? Who else could give her this life?” he asks, his arms motioning in a big circle around this beautiful Sardinia seaside. “And who else could I trust to pull this all off, but him?”
“But dad? What about you and mom?”
“Well, you’ve got two babysitters right down the coast now.”
“What?”
“Taxes can be done all through the Internet. We’re living in Italy now. Early retirement, especially considering the rewards we got for finding and turning in Marroni.”
I just shake my head.
“Oh, and it’s not Tim and Kim anymore. You can just call us Stefano and Stella. That’s what it reads on our passports at least.”
“What?” I gulp, turning to Gio who just shoots me a wink.
“I love you,” he mouths.
“So yeah, no reason to call me daddy ever again. We don’t want anyone finding out.”
Gio and I choke back laughter. “You’re right, we don’t need anyone finding out who my daddy is. Those who know, know.”
“Atta girl,” dad and Gio say at the same time.
“More wine?” my mom asks.
I rip the bottle from her hands and tip it back, taking a drink straight from it before I spit it out.
“A bit of wine could help me get through this moment but then I realized what this moment is all about in the first place.”
“That’s right, Little Momma,” Gio says. “We should pick out names.”
“We don’t even know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl.”
“That’s the best part about Italian names, you just add an ‘o’ at the end for boys and an ‘a’ at the end for girls. Something like that at least.”
“You’re something,” I say, tapping him on the nose.
“And you’re everything,” he says tapping me back and then claiming my lips.
“I love you.”
“Ti amo, amore mio.”
Extended Epilogue
Giovanni
Seven years later
“Am I gonna get a spanking?” Florence, our four-year-old asks as she looks up at me with those azure eyes that are equally as piercing as her mother’s.
“We don’t spank children in this house,” I say off-the-cuff.
She brings a finger to the side of her face and squints out of one eye as if trying to solve a mystery. Our kids are so damn cute I wish there was a way to record their funny behaviors and expressions all the time.
“But if you don’t spank kids, then who do you spank?”
I swallow hard. “No one,” I answer quickly. “Now let’s get you ready for bed.”
I scoop my little girl up and carry her off to bed, Gabriella shooting me a knowing look as I go. It says ‘nice parenting’ mixed with ‘that’s not at all true’ in one expression. And she’s absolutely right.
Sardinia was a great place to live for five years, but the last two in Rome have been better…especially when I found a home for sale that had an underground catacomb that looks more like a macabre underground labyrinth, which Gabriella and I have used to set up a little adult
playroom where the kids will never find us.
We can have a babysitter over and tell them we’re going for a night out on the town, only to sneak in the backyard, into the labyrinth, and have one heck of a night right under the house…and nobody has to know.
“Dad, it’s too early for bed,” our oldest Milan whines, after I finish tucking in Florence and come back for one of my two boys. It’s become a nightly ritual, scooping the kids up one by one and getting them to bed.
“Everybody’s in bed tonight at nine. We’ve got a big day tomorrow buddy.”
“Oh yeah!” he remembers, our scheduled tour of the Colosseum tomorrow. After having watched Gladiator recently he can’t wait to do his best Maximus impressions.
After I get Milan down I come back and see that Romeo, Sicily, and Siena are already gone.
“Where are the rest of our kids?”
“Bribery,” Gabriella says, smirking.
“You got them all to bed that fast?”
“I told them we could go for pastries tomorrow if they went to bed right now, and they practically tripped over each other getting there.”
“Pastries is all it took?”
“Sometimes you just gotta know their sweet spot. Pun intended.”
“You mean, punishment intended,” I counter, scooping her up off her feet and carrying her to the bedroom as I spank her with my free hand.
Gabriella giggles away and I already know what kind of playtime tonight is going to be.
“Are you going to carry me to bed too, Daddy?”
“You betcha,” I say, proud I remember some of my American English expressions from my year there as an exchange student years ago.
“Do I get a pastry tomorrow too?” she asks, puffing out her lower lip.
“My little piccolina gets whatever she wants tomorrow. And tonight, Daddy’s going to take everything he wants,” I smirk.
“But I’m getting fat, Daddy. Maybe I shouldn’t eat so many sweets.”
“You are sweet and no negative self-talk. Daddy loves your body, little girl. Remember, this body has given us five children. Not to mention if you have gained any weight, which I swear to Dio I haven’t noticed, it just means Daddy can really let loose in the bedroom.”
